DECODE
by Gilraen Culnamo
Summary: A story on how a group of Twili affected the events in Twilight Princess
1. Chapter 1

DECODE

Stella sniffed in the stale air of the Twilight Realm. Another boring day, perhaps with a bit of deviation. She sat up and stretched, sitting in an abandoned alley. There were noises of many footsteps, people talking and shouting, and the usual sounds of a market. Stella stood up and looked around with sleep-laden eyes through her cropped, bright red hair, wondering what she was going to do today. Maybe spy on the other Twili who just did the same thing every day? She snorted to herself. She knew all too well where almost every Twili stepped now. She was even surprised that they hadn't started to wear ruts in the road.

Rubbing the sleepyness from her eyes, she strolled out into the open, looking as red-eyed comuters made their way through the streets without difficulty. Sometimes, for a joke, Stella would trip one of them and all hell would break loose, but she wasn't really up to it today. Instead, she settled herself down on one of the little-used benches and simply watched.

"Oh, there's old Livia. She's off to file some important papers, no doubt," Stella thought to herself. "And there's Zant. He never really does much... And Dusk, she's always scurrying around, probably making trouble as usual. Hey, what is Nevera doing out here? Isn't she usually tailing that stupid princess?" Stella spat at the thought of the Twilight Princess. All that stupid girl did all day was yell at a few servants for not making her soup right, maybe walking around the dull halls of the Twilight Palace for a thrill. Stella got up with a snort.

She was almost startled back into the bench when she saw Zant standing right in front of her. They stood not quite face-to-face, as Zant was several inches shorter than she was. She took a step to the side, a bit intimidated by the short Twili.

"Um, hi?" Stella stuttered.

"Come with me, I have something interesting that I bet you would want to hear," was all that Zant said before grabbing Stella's hand and dragging her across the street and into a different alleyway. This one was darker, and through the darkness Stella could see Zant's unusual pupils glow. They weren't like a regular Twili's, she noticed, but an orangey-yellow color with black outlines. She was jerked out of her thoughts when Zant spoke again.

"So, you dislike the Twilight Princess, too?" he asked.

"What? What do you mean?" Stella replied, shocked.

"Of course you dislike her."

"Well, yeah. But how did you know?"

"That's not important. What IS important is that I have a plan to stop all this monotony going on here. I'm forming a... group. You'd be the first to join, but with some help it can grow bigger. Meet me by the edge of the Twilight Palace this afternoon, and start telling people about this group," Zant said in a somewhat rushed way.

"Um, yeah, sure. I'll get some people," was all that Stella could say in reply.

"Good." And with that, Zant turned and disappeared in a flurry of sleeves and tassels.

-----

Dusk ran through the ranks of other Twili, all scurrying on errands or off to work, with a huge grin on her face. "Excuse me! Pardon me! Oops, sorry! I didn't mean to step on your toe! Sorry!" she yelled as countless Twili yelled rude remarks at her. Her bright orange hair was tied up in two long pigtails, and was streaming out behind her and accidentally blinding a few Twili as she rushed past, earning her more smart remarks. Her bright red tank-top was a flash of unexpected color in the dull Twilight Realm, and her grey shorts jingled as she ran. They were clothes from the Light Realm, she knew, but that didn't stop her from wearing them. She loved everything about the Light Realm, and she was often shunned and ridiculed for it.

"Hey, has anyone seen my sister?!" she yelled to no one in particular.

"Go find her yourself!"

"Scum!"

"Went to the Light Realm yourself, did ya? Traitor!"

More rude phrases were thrown at her, but she didn't care. She just kept running, searching for her missing sister.

-----

Stella was affronted by her new task. How was she going to get other Twili to join Zant's group? She shrugged mentally to herself, slowly forming a plan in her head on how to ask others if they were interested. Deciding to put her new plan to practice, she walked around, asking here and there. Some were not too keen on the idea, and some jumped at the opportunity. She told them all to meet when and where Zant had specified, and then she was done.

By that afternoon, about ten Twili showed up at the Palace, not including Zant and Stella. One, Stella noticed, had bright green hair and pigtails. She didn't know why that hairstyle was familiar to her, but she shrugged off the feeling and listened to what Zant had to say.

Zant cleared his throat to call attention to the eagerly waiting Twili.

"Thank you all for coming today," he said in a less-than-welcoming voice. Zant had never been that social. "I think that all of us gathered here would all agree that all this monotony is getting, well, boring."

This remark was greeted by "Yeahs" and "You bets."

"I think we should grab the ram by the horns and get that stupid princess off the throne!"

"Yeah! She's nothing but a waste of time!"

Zant raised his black hand to silence the crowd of ten.

"Yes, that is exactly my plan. We have been locked up like animals in this realm for too long! No one wants anything anymore, and they are content to slave away for nothing. But not us! We will overcome this, and show the Twilight Realm what it really means to live!" Zant raised his voice. Stella noticed that there was a certain hint in those yellow-orange eyes, like he really didn't care for these people at all. She smiled and cheered with the rest of them, trying to push that thought to the back of her head. Of course he did!

Zant clapped his hands together. "For now, I need every one of you to tell all your friends about this. We're going to need as many people as possible! I need one volunteer to join me now that this session is over, and, Stella, I'll see you after I'm done. We'll meet every other day right here, same time. You are dismissed! I just need one volunteer."

The girl with the bright green pigtails walked up, and Zant lead her away.

Stella couldn't help but shudder. She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling about this now.


	2. Chapter 2

Stella leaned against the grey wall of the Twilight Palace, peering into the dark shadows for signs of Zant or the girl with the green pigtails. What was taking so long?

After what seemed like an eternity, Stella saw a lone figure walking towards her. She pushed herself off the wall to see the person clearer. It was Zant! And he was alone! Where was the girl?

"Where-?" Stella started to voice her question, but Zant raised his sleeved hand.

"Not now. I have an important task for you," Zant said curtly.

"Anything."

"I need you to stalk Midna for a day. See where she goes, at what times."

"Midna? You mean the Twilight Princess?"  
"Of course, fool!" Zant almost yelled, a fire suddenly blazing in his eyes. Stella took a step back, but the fire was gone in an instant.

"O-okay. Whatever you say," she replied, quickly sliding into the shadows to get away from the intimidating Twili.

---------

The next day, Stella set to her task with determination.

She walked normally through the streets, along with all the other Twili, earning her some strange looks. Stella never went anywhere! What could be so important today? Stella ignored all of them, her eyes set on the Twilight Palace, already thinking about how to navigate through it. The doors were made specially so that no one could slip under them in the shadows, so she would have to wait for someone to open them. That would be easy this morning, since most of the Twili were hurrying to work. She searched the crowd of busy Twili, trying to figure out who looked like they were going to the Palace. Her eyes found Nevera again, scurrying about with a blanket tucked under her arm, hurrying so fast that she almost tripped over her skirt a couple of times. Stella smirked to herself, then slid into Nevera's shadow and stayed there.

---------

Nevera's mind was frantic. The Princess had specially requested this blanket! She had found the shop that carried it and frantically sorted through her Rupees, dropping a few on the ground as she did so. She put the Rupees in front of the shopkeeper and grabbed the blanket, not waiting for her change. She put the blanket under her arm and started to run towards the Palace again, weaving through the crowd frantically. The Princess had wanted it soon, and she was going to do her best to get it to her soon!

While she was running, she heard the familliar sound of someone slipping into the shadows right behind her. She turned her head around, her braids whipping around her head, but didn't see anyone. She stopped and checked her own shadow, but she couldn't see anything unusual about it.

--------

Stella had tried to make as little sound as possible while she was slipping into the shadows, but Nevera had noticed none-the-less. She curled herself into a ball to make herself as small as possible, and so undetectable. When she was sure the coast was clear, she started following Nevera again in the shadows.

Getting into the Twilight Palace was a piece of cake after that. Nevera knew all the halls and passageways by heart, and she was going to the Princess anyway. Stella waited untill Nevera's and Midna's shadows were close together before jumping in between them and fully into the princess's.

Midna did not do much that day. She sat on her throne untill midday, then went into the Royal Dining Room for lunch. She yelled at a few scared-looking Twili for being late with her meal, but ate it quickly. When she arose, Stella only wondered if Midna could tell she was there. Zant's plan had gone so well this far, why should it fail now? Midna walked gracefully from the dining room, but turned in the opposite direction of the throne room. She walked down dozens of identical hallways (Nevera trailing behind as always), then opened a door that lead to a courtyard.

The courtyard wasn't that beautiful. It had black, half-withered plants scattered around it in random patterns. A grey block rested in a corner, and Stella presumed it's purpose was a bench of some sort. Two sides of it were surrounded by the dull walls of the palace, and the other two were fenced by transparent runes, overlooking into the infinite Twilight sky.

"Nevera, you are excused," Midna said curtly, her eyes unfocused on the horizon and her lips tense.

"Of course, princess," Nevera replied quickly, bowing back into the palace.

When the door had banged shut and the runes on it had stopped glowing, Midna finally relaxed. What she did next surprised Stella a lot. Pulling her skirt to the side, she rested her knees on the ground and started to pull at the withered plants, discarding them by chucking them over the transparent walls. When it was mostly cleared and the grey ground was visible, Midna cleaned herself up and walked over to the wall, resting her elbows on it and looking out to the sky. Stella noticed that a small bit of the courtyard was un-fenced, and Midna could easily walk over the edge if she had wanted to.

Midna sighed and rested her chin on her hand and closed her eyes, looking very thoughtfull. Half of Stella's mind wanted to know what she was thinking, but the other half told her that this would be an oppertune moment for whatever Zant had planned.

---------

Dusk sat glumly on a bench outside of the Twilight Palace. Where had her sister gone? She had been missing for a day now. She had never been gone for that long before! Maybe she would be at the outskirts of town?

Dusk jumped up and sprinted out of the town. She slid to a stop, gazing around at the open landscape. There was something bright that caught her attention at the other end of that meadow... Maybe her sister would be there? Picking up her fast pace from before, she reached the bright thing quickly. Actually, she had to stop a ways before she reached it, it was so bright! But her sister definately wasn't there. She turned around to head back, but was startled to find a huge black beast right in front of her! She gasped and almost fell backwards at the sight. The thing had a grey plate-like mask for a head, a black, lean body, overlarge but still lean arms and legs, and tenticles sprouting from it's neck! Dark Twilight matter radiated from it. A sudden sense of dread filled Dusk as she stared at the thing. What the heck was it?

While she pondered this question, it suddenly let out a loud scream. This time, Dusk was knocked to her back. "WHAT THE HELL??" Dusk wanted to scream, but she was momentarily paralyzed by the beast's scream.

After it had stopped, Dusk jumped to her feet and bolted. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her back to the Twilight Palace. She definately wasn't going anywhere near that bright thing again!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After the day was done, Stella hopped from shadow to shadow and finally made her way out of the palace. She eased herself out of the shadows at last, somewhat weary from being in them all day. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting herself relax a bit. When she opened her eyes again, Zant was right there, staring at her with those bright orange eyes of his. Stella jumped back with a small shriek.

"Why do you always have to do that?!" she said, startled. Zant waved her question away.

"Tell me all you know," was all he said, his voice flat and emotionless.

"Well, Midna doesn't do much all day but yell at a few servants every so often and stroll around those halls," Stella spat, "but she does have this little courtyard slash garden thing that she goes to every day about noon, after she's finished her lunch. Surprisingly, she gets herself dirty and actually takes care of those withered plants." Stella rambled a bit, but she could sence the faint glimmer in Zant's eyes as she told him about the courtyard. He was silent for a while after she had stopped talking.

"Meet me at the outskirts of town day after tomorrow. We'll talk a bit at the meeting, but I need to tell you more than time will allow then," Zant said simply, then turned around and walked away. Stella could hear the pat, pat, pat of his shoes as he rounded the corner of the Palace and stalked off. What was going on in that strante little Twili's head? What was he planning? Stella's thoughts wandered as she leaned against the palace, slowly sliding down the wall and into a sitting position, waching the squares of Twilight matter float to the sky with her chin on her knees. And where was that girl with the green pigtails, too? She hadn't seen her around lately. Didn't she usually hang out with Dusk? Maybe Dusk would know where she went. But then again, if Zant had told her to do something he had probably told her not to tell anyone what she was doing. Stella shrugged to herself. Who knows? It might be worth it to go to town and find Dusk.

Stella pulled herself back up from the palace wall and slowly made her way back to the town in the shadows. It wouldn't do to have someone see her coming back from the Twilight Palace, with her reputation. People would probably think that she had turned to the "dark side," or Midna's side. She snorted to herself. As if! She had always prided herself in not agreeing with Midna when she could get away with it. The stupid princess didn't do much, anyway. She should be helping her people! People like Stella, who had no home to go back to. But that actually didn't bother Stella, the fact that she didn't have a home. She felt it gave her more freedom.

------------

Dusk had found her bench again and was sitting with her head in her hands. She watched a little Twili girl with blue hair scurry around, seemingly looking for something or someone. Another Twili with green hair caught her attention quickly. Was it her sister? She raised her head from her hands, squinting to see. Nope, it wasn't her. It was a Twili boy who had rebelliously grown his hair longer than normal. She sighed, then leaned back on the bench and put her hands behind her head. What was she going to do?

Dusk was suddenly aware that someone was sitting next to her. She sat up straight and looked to see who it was. Stella!

"Oh, hello!" Dusk said in an attempt to sound cheery.

"Hi, Dusk," Stella replied, noticing the slight waver in her voice. She didn't know where the girl in the green pigtails went either.

"What's up?" Dusk chimed, trying to strike up a conversation. Stella sighed.

"Oh, nothing much," Stella recited, the usual reply for a question like that. She wracked her brain, trying to find a reason that she had started to talk to Dusk now that she actually knew what she wanted to know. "But hey, there's this meeting tomorrow that I'm going to go to. Wanna come?"

"A meeting?" Dusk said, a bit intimidated. A "meeting" sounded like something important and boring that didn't sound like fun to her. "What for?"

Stella glanced around them, then lowered her voice dramatically, almost to a whisper. "It's a meeting of a bunch of Twili who want to change the way we live day to day," she said, leaning close to Dusk's ear and putting her hand around her mouth so that bypassers couldn't read her lips. "They believe that Midna isn't doing a good job of ruling us, and so they're doing something about it."

Dusk listened intently, processing this information. She actually hadn't noticed that people didn't like Princess Midna's rule. She never kept up with politics, anyway. "Okay, I'll come," she said after a bit of thinking, "When and where is it?"

"Tomorrow afternoon by the Palace of Twilight," Stella replied. She was getting the hang of this! Another follower for Zant. That made... twelve now, including herself. She hoped that the origional ten had been telling people about Zant's plan. Then there would probably be twice as many people, or more!

"Well, see ya then!" Stella said, standing up and beginning to walk away. Dusk forced a smile.

"Yeah, see you," she replied, a bit gloomily. It was weird, something about that conversation had reminded her about that beast she had encountered near the bright thing. What was it? Why was it there? Did it serve a purpose? She stood up and decided to take a walk, deciding that it would gibe her time to think about it and work out her thoughts.

------------

Stella almost skipped to the palace the next day. She was excited about the meeting, and wondered how many people would show up. She came extra early this time, just so that she could easily count heads as people showed up.

The origional ten came back, except for the girl with the green pigtails, and a bunch more. Stella had a hard time counting, there were so many! She finally counted about sixty of them, give or take a few! When Zant finally came, Stella was beaming.

"Look at how many people came!" Stella exclaimed to him, avoiding his eyes. They were sure to be full of something evil that would dampen her mood considerably. But when she finally glanced at his face, she saw he was smiling, too.

"Perfect," he purred, more to himself than to Stella. Stella finally mustered the courage to flick her gaze to his eyes, and what she saw was greed and the same carelessness about the people. Wanting to escape his malicious glare, Stella slipped into the crowd and found Dusk.

Dusk seemed frozen in place, her gaze locked on Zant. He reminded her of something... that beast that she had encountered. The same evil was in his eyes that had radiated from the beast. She wouldn't have been surprised if he had let out a paralyzing scream at any second.

"Hi, Dusk!" Stella said, genuine cheer in her voice. Dusk jumped at her voice, her eyes wide for a moment, but then she calmed down a bit.

"Oh, hi," Dusk mumbled.

"Glad you could make it!" Stella said, practically jumping up and down from enthusiasim.

"I-I don't know if I'll be able to stay," Dusk whispered. She didn't want to stay in the presence of this Twili any longer than she had to. "In fact... er, I just r-remembered something I was supposed to do for my friend. See ya later, bye!"

And with that, Dusk turned around and vanished into the crowd.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Nevera hummed gently to herself as she strolled down the hallway, lost in thought.

_"I'm almost certain that my shadow flickered a little bit closer to Princess Midna's than it should have..."_ she mused to herself. _"Or... Maybe I just shifted as I glanced at our shadows. Yes, that must be it. There's nothing to worry about, Nevera!"_

Suddenly, she colided with a thud into another Twili. Nevera knoticed that the Twili boy she had just run into, ironically, had pink hair.

"Oops! Sorry, miss- oh! Nevera! So sorry! I was just delivering a message to the Princess. Could you tell me where she is?" the boy quickly recovered his stance and made sure that Nevera was okay. Nevera looked down at her skirt and straightened her braids to hide her blushing.

"Oh, sure! Well- I could just lead you to her, I mean, since I'm- since that's where I was going anyway," she stuttered, talking to the boy's feet. And with that, she briskly walked toward the throne room.

----------

When they reached the door to the throne room, Nevera opened it quickly and briskly stepped inside, giving a curt bow to the princess before standing to the side to make room for the messenger, who gave a more lengthy bow.

"Princess Midna, I have a message from the Palace Guard," he said, his head still bowed and his voice solemn.

Midna gave a lazy wave from her throne. "What is it?" she whined.

"M'lady, there have been groups of commoners- about sixty or more, we counted- that have been meeting near the palace wall every other day now. The Palace Guard is uneasy about their presense, and they sense a rebellion," he paused before continuing. "What shall we do, Princess?"

Midna straightened up in her throne a bit, pretending to think about it for a minute before exploding. "A REBELLION?! Are you crazy? Why would they want to rebell? I have done them no harm!" she practically screamed at the poor boy. She stood up from her throne and started to pace, her cloak flowing elegantly behind her. She threw up her hands in a mock confused stance. "But no, I guess they are so mad that they will try to break through the palace walls, which are SOLID. STONE. Not even the strongest Twili alive could smash through that! But still, if the Palace Guard are worried, we should all be quaking in our boots!" She stopped right in front of the throne and crossed her arms, leaning on her right leg in a sassy type of stance. "Go," was all she said next.

The Twili boy bowed again, and Nevera gave him a glance that said, _"I'm sorry."_He nodded his head in response, then quickly swiveled around and out the door. When it banged shut, Nevera let out her breath and looked at the princess, who was now lounging in the tall throne. Nevera looked at Midna, a worried look on her face.

"Did you have to be so mean about it, princess?" Nevera muttered, making her way up to stand before the princess. Midna sighed, resting her cheek on her fist.

"I'm tired, Nevera, and you know that I'm grumpy when I'm tired," she muttered. Nevera smirked.

"I know, but it would probably save energy by just saying, 'I don't think that they're rebelling, don't do anything,'" Nevera replied.

"Whatever," was Midna's reply. Stretching slowly, Midna rose from the throne. "I think I'm going to go to the courtyard. Don't disturb me, and I don't need to be trailed by you, no offence."

"None taken, princess," Nevera said, bowing her head slightly. "See you later, then."

"Yeah, see you later," Midna said, walking down the stairs and out the door.

----------

Stella looked back up to Zant from looking at the ground. Her feet hurt, and they had been walking for what seemed like hours. She had no clue how Zant could keep up his brisk pace.

Trying to get some life back into her tired limbs, she stretched and looked around at the landscape. The familiar boring grass stretched out in front of them, ending abruptly in the infinite Twilight sky. In front of them was a bright... thing. It was circular, and it seemed to be turning, but Stella couldn't see it that clearly- it was so bright. Next to the bright circle, Stella could see several shadows moving about. No- they weren't shadows... they looked like black beasts of some sort. Probably some demented demon-like creatures that roamed these plains.

When Zant finally stopped, Stella nearly ran into him. They were so near the bright thing that Stella had to turn her head away in fear of being blinded. "Why are we here?" she asked.

"We're here because I need to tell you the rest of my plan," Zant said simply. He turned to face Stella sharply, his long sleeves flapping about around him. Stella was glad she had to turn her head, she didn't want to face those eyes again.

"My plan "A" is this: I get Midna off of the throne, take her place, and fix this place up. Plan "B" is: We go through that-" he pointed at the bright circle- "portal into the Realm of Light, take THAT over, and move all the people who agree with us there. Or plan "C": We do both. Short and simple. Got it?" Stella nodded, and Zant continued. "Only, there's one catch with plans "B" and "C", and it's that you can't go into the light without being fatally injured."

"Yeah, I can't even look at that portal withou-"

"SO," Zant cut her off, "I'll fix that problem so that if we have to resort to plan "B", and more favorably "C", we are prepared. Watch out, this might hurt a little."

"Wha--?" Stella screamed. Her whole body felt as if it were being burned and frozen at the same time! White hot light flashed into her eyes and flooded her head, making her dizzy and unable to think. Wisps of light encircled her, and she was wrapped in a cocoon of light. She could not speak. It felt like she couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She wanted to scream, laugh, and cry all at the same time. The light was warm, but it hurt her skin! She knew it was light surrounding her, but she did not know what it was doing.

Slowly, and after what seemed like an eternity, Stella was lowered gently back onto the ground. The light faded, and she could see her surroundings again, all though... they did seem unnaturally darker than before. She looked to where the bright light had been coming from, and in its place was a portal of some sort- the one Zant had talked about. It looked strangely beautifull, with it's intricate designs whirling about in different directions, and a triangle- no, three triangles- in the center.

"What is that?" Stella breathed in awe.

Zant seemed mad at her question. "The Twilight Portal, duh! I already told you that!"

"Sorry," Stella said, shrinking back from the small Twili and thinking that she had never heard him say the name before.

"Come," Zant said curtly. "We must go to the Twilight Palace now, and take that miserable excuse for a princess off her high horse- or, throne in this case."

Stella smiled. Zant had made a joke.

----------

As they walked back to the palace, they were confronted by black beasts. Slowly but surely they made their way towards them, draining the air of what little warmth it held. Dread filled every sense of Stella's mind. "Get away from them! Run! Now!" her instincts screamed, but she stayed close to Zant. Their grey, plate-like faces turned towards them, but they showed no sign of aggression in their lithe bodies.

"What... are... those... things...?" Stella whispered, choking out the words. She silently counted about sixty of the horrid beasts. "Hmm, that was the same number at the meeting last time..." she thought, but Zant interrupted her thoughts.

"You'll find out in time," Zant said curtly. "For now, just know that they won't hurt you."

Zant's words didn't comfort her much, and she stayed as close to Zant as possible without touching him all the way to town.

----------

Stella was so stunned from the encounter with the beasts near the Twilight Portal that she didn't even knotice when they were inside the palace. She just did what Zant told her to do.

"Okay, now be quiet," Zant whispered to her in the shadows. "We've been lucky thus far in getting here, but I don't think anyone is going to waltz into the courtyard and offer the princess a roll or anything. I have a feeling that she likes to be alone in there, so I'm just going to open the door myself. Quickly... now!"

Zant emerged from the shadows and opened the door, Stella being swept into Zant's shadow and dragged along for the ride.

That's when the real action started.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Midna twirled around when she heard the door open and bang shut. Who dared to disturb her, when she had specially requested that she be left alone here?! She plastered a fake angry expression on her face and prepared to yell whoever had entered out. But when she saw who it was, she stopped in her tracks.

The Twili standing there was a commoner, one that Midna had never seen before. But his eyes... they were filled with evil and hate towards her. She raised up her hand to try and block those orange eyes out of her sight. The commoner also seemed to possess great magical power, which was unheard of. Only the Royal Family had magic! How could this Twili have any? And how did he have magic so dark, too?

"Who the heck are you?!" Midna challenged him. Maybe she could still pull off the grumpy, don't-mess-with-me princess act. It seemed to have no affect, however, as the Twili stepped nearer. "Hold your ground!" she commanded.

Zant gave a slight laugh. "Hm ha ha! I am Zant," he replied, his voice lower and seemingly more evil than before. Stella could only wonder at what was going on. "Remember that name well, princess," Zant spat. "You'll be hearing it much more from now on."

"What are you doing here, commoner?!" Midna said, trying to sound strong, but she couldn't help the scared waver in her voice. Maybe she should have listened to that pink-haired Twili boy...

"Oh, I'm not here to do much," Zant muttered maliciously. "Just turn you into a pathetic little imp: what you really are! Too long have you ruled us in monotony!" Zant went on, stepping closer to the princess, but Stella stopped listening at the word "imp".

She slid out of the shadows and materialized beside Zant. She hadn't heard ANYTHING about turning the princess into an imp! That was just cruel! Glancing at Zant to make sure he was fully concentrating on Midna, she tried to give Midna a "get-out-of-here" look. Not that Midna needed it, she was all ready backing towards the rail- or, rather, the space in the rail. Stella desperately glanced at Midna and then to Zant. She had to do something! Maybe suggest another plan to Zant?

Stella stepped in front of Zant, spreading her arms wide in a protective stance.

"No! You didn't tell me anything about this, Zant!" Stella whined, hoping to gain pity on her, and so the princess. "There's another way, I know it! I-I passed a dungeon when I was following... uh, a guard here! We could just put her in there and guard it!"

Zant's eyes, against all probability, became filled with even more fiery hatred and cold evil. Only this time, all of it was directed it at Stella. "HOW DARE YOU suggest such an option?! There are so many loopholes in that plan!" Zant screamed, bearing down on Stella like a cobra on its prey and chilling her to the bones. "And it would just be STUPID to lock the princess IN HER OWN PALACE. Guards would pummel us like hail!"

"But there's got to be another way, other than turning her into an imp!" Stella pleaded, trying to keep herself on her feet.

"No! I can already tell that you have betrayed me! I do not need you anymore!" Zant yelled, bringing back his long, sleeved arm. Fear clouded Stella's mind. Was he going to turn _her_ into an imp, too?!

His strike felt like an invisible brick wall had struck her to the ground, but Stella remained conscious. She couldn't move, but she could tell that she was not an imp. "Owwww," she groaned.

Midna witnessed the entire thing, backing up slowly and reaching out behind her to try and find the rail. She was trapped, and so at the mercy of Zant, whoever he was. "What do you want with me?" she demanded, her voice a little bit higher than she had intended.

"I have already told you, Midna!" Zant spat, not using her proper title. "You sorry excuse for a princess. After this, I will rule the Twilight Realm, and then take over the Light Realm, too! Oh, everyone will have to bow to King Zant, whether they like it or not, or so be beaten and killed by my Shadow Beasts!"

"Stop it with the monolouge!" Midna snapped. "Just do whatever you want to me, I'll get my kingdom back soon enough."

"As you wish, princess!" Zant said as he drew back his arm to strike Midna just as he had with Stella, only Midna was a considerable distance away. He swept his long sleeve hard and fast across the princess, and Midna fell with a small grunt. When she tried to get back up, her arms felt considerably longer than normal. When she opened her eyes to look at them, she was shocked to see that her hands were black, and her fingers were pointed. She felt her face as she leaned back to kneel on her stubby legs, and found that her ears had grown, and they were long and pointed as well! She looked down to her body in horror. Oh, she really was hideous! She tried to stand up on her short legs, but she overbalanced and fell over.

Zant had stayed a little while longer to watch the poor princess get used to her new imp body, but then turned and walked out the door, a helmet magically forming around his head and concealing his wicked smile. Stella noticed that when the door banged shut, dark... something came pouring over the entrance like a waterfall. Stella knew enough about Zant not to touch it. Slowly and groggily, she heaved herself up and walked over to the princess, who was now an imp.

"Princess... I'm so sorry," Stella whispered, kneeling beside the imp so she could get to eye level with her.

"It's not your fault," Midna replied. "And, just call me Midna for now. Zant was right, he is king now. A stupid usurper!" She banged the ground with her fist in anger.

Suddenly, as if summoned by Midna's show of anger, a red and black portal opened up over their heads. It was not beautiful, like the Twilight Portal had been, but it looked cruel and blotchy, like a bucket of multicolored paint had been poured into the sky. Both of the figures in the courtyard looked up to it, and before they knew it, they were sucked up by the portal.

----------

Dusk made herself comfortable on the grass that was right outside of town. She had convinced Nevera to come out of the palace today, since Princess Midna was probably going to spend all day in her courtyard. Dusk sighed and leaned back on her arms, gazing around at the monotonous scenery.

"So, sure is nice to get out of the palace for a day, isn't it, Nevera?" Dusk mused. "It must be awfully stuffy and boring to be in there all day."

Nevera didn't seem quite so sure. She was sitting in the grass next to Dusk, but her position was one of shyness and unease. "There is too much darkness in the air," she whispered.

"Oh, come on! It's always dark here!" Dusk said in an attempt to cheer Nevera up. But she could feel it, too. A sense of dread not unlike the kind she had felt when she had encountered those... things. Something was about to happen, and it could not be good.

* * *

A.N.: Wow, can you believe it? Two chapters in two days! x3 I think I'm back on for writing this thing! I've gotten past the boring part, now the action begins!


	6. Chapter 6

DECODE, Chapter 6

Hylian soldiers jogged hurriedly in neat lines up to the throne room, shields up and spears pointed towards the sky. The sky above Hyrule became dark and angry, lightning flashing across the sky and illuminating Hyrule Castle.

"Hurry! Before those beasts come!" the commander yelled to his troops.

Princess Zelda appeared in the entrance to the throne room, looking out at the bleak landscape, dotted with black monsters. "What is the meaning of this?" she whispered to herself. Suddenly, she was confronted with her army.

"Princess! Please position yourself in the back of the room, where you'll be safest!" the commander said, giving the princess a slight bow. "I have brought your sword, too, upon request." With this, he ceremoniously kneeled in front of Princess Zelda and held up her sword with two hands, allowing her to take it. Once the hilt was in her hands, he rose to his feet. "Now go!" Zelda nodded, then rushed to her throne.

"You, soldiers! Front and center! You! Front right!" the commander boomed, pointing to various groups of soldiers. "You! Over there! Front left! The ones remaining: position yourselves on the stairs! You three! You will accompany me beside Princess Zelda!" Once everyone was in position, they stood and waited. Some soldiers trembled, their spears shaking in fright. Others made a show of their bravery, however false it was.

----------

"Hey, Nevera? Do you hear something?" Dusk said softly.

Nevera turned around, facing the town, to see what the noise was. It sounded like some sort of slimy... something was crawling around behind them. No, not just one, a whole army of them. Nevera's eyes widened as she saw black shadow beasts swarming around the town.

"Get up! Run! RUN!" she screamed, helping Dusk to her feet and running at full speed away from the town.

"No! There are more over there! I've seen them!" Dusk yelled, yet ran harder.

"It's our only choice! We'll just have to dodge them!" Nevera hollered back.

----------

Suddenly, in the throne room, black clouds of darkness shot into the room. Princess Zelda gasped as she saw her soldiers slash and stab at the black shadow beasts that swarmed out of the darkness, only to be pinned to the ground or lifted easily into the air by their throats.

When the darkness had subsided a bit and the room was clear, Zelda saw a figure walk into the room. He was wearing a tall, silver, bizarre helmet, and a long, black shirt with long sleeves and green designs on it. He was dogged by two shadow beasts, but these looked different from the rest. He gave a low chuckle.

"It is time for you to choose: surrender or die," he said. "Oh yes, a question for all the land and people of Hyrule... Life? Or death?!"

The remaining soldiers standing next to the princess gasped and turned to her. What would she choose? They had no chance against these lean shadow beasts, but would they wish they were dead if they surrendered?

Zelda held her breath, weighing her country's choices. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her sword. As if in slow motion, she heard it drop to the ground with a clang that filled the entire room. The soldiers' shoulders sagged, and they, too, dropped their weapons, though none of them made as much noise as the princess's sword.

The strange man lifted a sleeved hand and pointed toward Zelda, signaling his minions to grab her.

"Wait!" the princess pleaded. "Do I even get to know the name of my captor?"

He paused, signaling the beasts to do the same. "My name is Zant, King of Shadows," he said simply. And with that, everything turned into a nightmare for the people of Hyrule.

----------

Back in the Twilight Realm, a portal opened at the entrance of the Palace of Twilight. The red and black splotch in the sky deposited it's occupants and vanished, leaving Midna and Stella laying on the ground. Stella rose up into a sitting position, looked around, then quickly vanished into Midna's small shadow. Midna opened her small eyes just in time to see Stella disappear, but said nothing.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, spreading out her long arms to balance herself. She took a few shaky steps to the ramp leading down to the entrance area of the palace, but mis-stepped and tumbled down to the ground with a surprised yell. At the bottom, she got up again and stepped forward for a few steps before falling to her knees.

_What can I do like this? I'm helpless,_ she thought. She stayed on her knees for a little bit before remembering something. The goddesses had locked away a forsaken power long ago, but one of the pieces still remained in the twilight. She could use that! Focusing her mind on it's magic, she stretched out her fist, then slowly opened it. A strange, helmet-like thing appeared before her. It looked to be made out of stone, but Midna knew it was much lighter. It was adorned with a decorative plate on the front, with two horn-like swirls at the top. The part where the wearer's head was supposed to go was decorated with etchings. It rose into the air, and Midna gazed up at it, imagining what she could do with this power she now possessed. An evil grin spread across her face, and she grasped the helmet and put it on.

Immediately, she felt stronger. Twilight magic surged through her, and she floated up into the air. Suddenly a loud scream sounded behind her, making her cringe in mid air and cover her long, pointed ears. The shadow beast that had seen her charged at Midna, swinging a long arm in an attempt to bring her down. Midna yelled in surprise and quickly flew in the direction of the Twilight Portal, flying high as to avoid being hit by the beasts below her.

_I have to get out of here!_

_----------_

Dusk and Nevera were panting by the time they reached the bright portal. The shadow beasts had lost their interest in the twili girls long ago, but they weren't taking any chances.

"What... do we do... now?" Dusk panted.

"I don't... know," Nevera replied, just as breathless as her friend. She lifted a hand to her head and shielded her eyes from the bright portal, and Dusk did the same.

They decided to sit there and catch their breath for a little bit. After a little while, they noticed that the portal had grown dimmer. Slowly and curiously, they peeked out from behind their hands and looked at it. It seemed to have lost its light.

"I wonder what would happen if we got nearer?" Dusk said, a gleam of curiosity in her eyes.

"I really don't want to know right now, Dusk," Nevera moaned.

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Dusk said, folding her hands and giving Nevera a puppy face.

In the distance, they heard a shadow beast scream out one of their paralyzing screams. Nevera turned to see which direction it had come from.

"That sounded like it came from the palace!" she whispered.

"Even more reason to get out of here!" Dusk suggested.

"Fine! Let's go!" Nevera sighed.

But before they could stand up, they suddenly saw a strange creature flying towards them at high speed.

"Look out!" it screamed. Nevera, startled, turned around. She knew that voice! It was slightly high pitched, but still familiar!

"Midna?!" she yelled, surprised. Midna swiveled to a stop in mid-air to see who had called her name.

"What?!" Midna shot back, before catching herself. Her first feeling was embarrassment.

"How-?" Nevera started, but Midna cut her off.

"I'll tell you later, just go through the portal, now!" she said.

* * *

A.N.: Yay! Yet another chapter of my story! I'm sorry it took me so long to get it up, but with end-of-school projects and stuff there wasn't much time to write. Now that school is pretty much over, though, I'll be able to write a lot more!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Midna's hands hit sand as she hurtled from the Twilight Portal, tumbling onto her back.

_Hmm, that was less of a welcome than I expected,_ she thought to herself, lifting herself a few feet off the ground and brushing herself off. Dusk, Stella, and Nevera appeared as well, all of them covered in sand. None of them were too happy about it.

Waiting for the others to rid themselves of sand, Midna looked around her. They were in a round room of tall pillars and arches. Six pillars towered above the rest, casting shadows over the roofless chamber. Upon each pillar was a round, gold plate that had a symbol on it, each of them different from the others. One, Midna noticed, even had a chunk taken out of it. In the middle of the room sat a square platform with stairs carved out of it, leading up to a huge mirror-like object. No, it wasn't just any mirror, it was the Mirror of Twilight! It gave off a feeble, dying light that would not last for long.

"So, where are we?" Dusk said, surveying the room around them.

"I... I think I've read about this place," Nevera piped up. "But I bet you could tell us more about this place, Midna. You seem to know a lot."

"Well," Midna replied, "I've heard people talk about this place like memories of a fairy-tale. This is supposedly the Realm of Light, the opposite of our home. But... if my suspicions are correct, something has gone terribly wrong. It looks just like it is back in the Twilight Realm! See? There are even the same squares of Twilight Matter rising from the ground! If everything were all right, we should all be dead, or close to dead, right now."

"Zant did say something about taking over the Realm of Light..." Stella said shakily, "... but I always thought he was just joking, ya know? It's all my fault..."

"Stop saying that, Stella!" Dusk said, wrapping her arm around Stella's shoulders.

"Well,_ I_ think she's right," said an all-too-familiar voice coming from the shadows. The twili girls all spun around to face Zant, who was leisurely strolling into the room. "After all, she so willingly helped me get all of my followers, who might have been less than willing to join me."

"So, where are all of these followers you're talking about?!" Dusk spat. "All I see is some crazy twili that wants to take over the world and all that bad-guy stuff."

"Oh, so it's time for show-and-tell, now is it?" Zant chuckled. "I'll go first, I actually have two things. I'll show you one of my pets first."

At Zant's words, a portal opened up above their heads and out dropped a shadow beast.

"This," Zant said, "is one of my followers. Does this make sense now?" The twili girls all stared at the beast, except Midna, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Next, I'll show you some of the power that I now posses. Watch closely," Zant continued. He raised his hands so that they were poking out from his sleeves. A big ball of reddish-black energy formed in between them. He turned to face the Twilight Mirror and focused the energy on it.

"No!" Nevera gasped.

"Oh, yes," Zant said maliciously, releasing the energy and cracking the Mirror into four separate pieces, three of which flew in opposite directions: up, north, and south.

Nevera stared in disbelief at the one remaining piece.

"Why did you do that?" she shot at him, "Now all of us are trapped here! Including you, Mr. 'I'm-Going-to-Take-Over-the-World'!"

"Actually, I can still get back to that wasteland you all call 'home'," Zant replied. "Didn't you see what I did to the Mirror? Well, as a slight change of subject, I just used that power to so conveniently teleport your precious Midna to Faron Woods. I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet, I actually did it before our show-and-tell session started."

The twili girls searched around for Midna in hopes that Zant was lying, but sure enough, she was no where to be found.

----------

"I had no idea… I hadn't heard the details about Talo's capture…" Ilia said, looking down at Colin. They were both standing in the shallow waters of the spirit's spring, where Ilia had taken Link's horse, Epona, to wash a wound on the mare's leg.

"But, Colin…" Ilia mumbled, not noticing that Link had walked up behind her. Epona had stretched her head out to Link fondly, searching for a pat or a treat. Ilia turned to stroke the horse's neck, pretending to ignore Link, but Epona let out a harsh snort that startled her.

"So, you still prefer your master over me, huh, Epona?" Ilia asked the horse, then turned to face Link. "Don't worry about your horse, Link. Fortunately, it looks like the injury isn't too serious. You two can go on together. But Link… Can you at least promise me this? No matter what happens on your journey, don't try to do anything… out of your league. Please. Just come home safely."

Link gave her a reassuring smile and stepped closer to take his horse, when there was a sudden noise of dozens of stamping hooves and what felt like a mini earthquake. Harsh squeals and grunts could be heard before the gates to the spring were forcefully knocked to the ground with a crash. About three huge, boar-like monsters with smaller, green monsters riding atop them burst into the spring. Ilia gave a scream and tried to run, but one of the green monsters quickly strung an arrow on a crude-looking bow and shot her cleanly in the back. Colin suffered the same fate. Link tried to do something, but a huge boar ran beside him and the monster riding on top of it knocked him out with a club.

Once the uproar had died down, the monsters took Ilia and Colin and slung them across their boars. Then, as majestically as a huge boar can, a bigger, blue boar with a huge, green monster riding it came into the spring. The monster surveyed the scene, nodded to himself, then took out a horn. He took a deep breath, then blew on it, creating a low melody that echoed throughout the spring. When he had finished, a red-and-black portal opened in the sky. The monster laughed to himself, then wheeled his steed around and ran out of the spring and onward in the direction of Faron Woods.

A few moments after the last boar had turned the corner, Link woke up. His head ached something awful, and for a minute he couldn't remember what had happened, but then his memory came back and he jumped to his feet. He sprinted at high speed across the bridge that connected Ordon to the Faron Woods, but he stopped in his tracks at the entrance to the woods.

Before him rose a great wall. It was as black as shadow, and glowing orange patterns decorated it. The warmth Link had just felt back at the spring was long gone, and any positive feeling he had was now gone as well.

Link was just trying to think of how he was going to get around it or go through it when suddenly a big black hand shot out of the wall and clutched Link's throat in its powerful grasp. Link had only a moment to think before he was yanked through the wall and into the netherworld beyond.

* * *

A.N.: The review button is begging to be pushed. Make it a happy button and click it! ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Maybe if I can get the rest of the power that the goddesses locked away, I can return our world to normal_, Midna thought absentmindedly as she watched a lone shadow beast wander around at the entrance to Faron Woods. Zant, of course, had teleported her here for some unknown reason. She had no clue where she was, or where the Twilight Mirror was. She knew she didn't need to go back to the Mirror right now, since she needed to find the Fused Shadows first. Then, she would go back to the Twilight Realm, find Zant, and re-claim her throne. It would be easy, but she had no idea where the Fused Shadows were in the first place. If they were behind that wall of light over there, she was in trouble. She was lucky enough to be in the Realm of Light in the first place, even if it was cursed. What was so bad about the twilight here? If she didn't have a mission to put into action, she might actually be enjoying herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the shadow beast she had been following suddenly gave a startled grunt, and through the wall of light came a bunch of monsters riding on top of huge beasts. She didn't know what they were, but she knew she didn't want to be seen right now. Slipping into the shadows, she watched the beasts ride by with what seemed to be floating balls of green fire in front of them. Looking closely and using the fused shadow for power, she realized that they were the spirits of children! Well, one seemed a bit older than a child, but that wasn't the point.

After the monsters had passed, Midna materialized from the shadows and flew up to a place where she could see the wall of light more clearly. It proved to be a good decision; after a few minutes the shadow beast reached into the light and pulled something into the twilight... another kid! No, he was older than a kid. Maybe 15 or 16 years old. Midna watched as the boy with blonde hair struggled against the shadow beast, trying desperately to pry the creature's fingers off his throat. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light, and the shadow beast threw the boy away from itself.

The boy struggled to get up, but he stayed on his hands and knees for a few moments. It looked to Midna like he was about to throw up, but something weirder than that happened. Suddenly, he raised his head to the sky and yelled at the top of his lungs which soon turned into a growl as his features changed. Fur began to ripple across his skin, his hands and feet turned into paws, his legs became shorter and more compact, a tail sprouted at the end of his spine, his nose became longer, and he became a wolf. For a moment he proudly raised his snout to the twilit sky, but then the strength seemed to leave him and he collapsed to the ground. Midna saw that as the wolf lay on the ground, something on his paw faded. She only had a moment to see what it was, but she thought that it looked like three triangles.

_This place really is the land of legends,_ Midna thought to herself._ Isn't that the wolf I've heard about in the stories? The one that will save our world?_

------------

"Let us go home!"

"Bring us to Midna!"

"Make that shadow beast go away!"

Zant gave a full-hearted laugh as the twili girls pelted him with orders.

"Let's see, no, no, and no!" he said, obviously enjoying the girls' frustration. "Hmmm... what would be a good place for you? Castle town? No, you'd be too close to me. Hyrule field? No, too central. Ordon? Crap, even I haven't gotten that far yet. Zora Village? You girls can't swim, can you? It would be a shame to let you drown. Hmm... I think my only other option is to drop you in Kakariko Village. Kakariko Village it is, then! See you later!"

"Wait!"

"Wha-?"

"Where-?"

And with that, they were all sucked up into Zant's portal.

------------

Curiously, the shadow beast slowly crept up to the wolf who used to be a boy. It attempted to touch the wolf, then shrunk back a bit, like a kitten exploring water for the first time. On the second attempt, though, the shadow beast quickly grabbed the wolf's back paw and began dragging it roughly away from the wall of light. Midna watched it for a moment, her long arms crossed in front of her, then decided to follow it.

The shadow beast dragged the poor wolf-boy through grass, over hills, into puddles, and finally heaved him up the stairs leading to Hyrule's Castle Town. The town seemed empty at first glance, but as she floated through the town, Midna saw that there were the same green balls of floating fire bouncing and flying around. Some were stationary, some moved quickly and wove in and out of the others. Still the shadow beast trudged on, wolf in tow, into the middle of the town.

Once in the center of Castle Town, the shadow beast stopped. Midna flew high above it and took it all in at once. There were scores of shadow beasts here, all milling around aimlessly. None of the townspeople dared to enter this area of the town now, with so many of the beasts there. The shadow beast that had dragged the wolf all the way from Faron Woods came to the fountain at the center of the area and faced a different looking shadow beast. The different looking one had the same lithe body as the others, but it's face-plate was perfectly round and shiny, and only one design marked it. The tentacle-like things sprouting from this one's neck were neat and cropped so that they barely stuck out from it's face-plate, but two horn-like things- not unlike the ones on the helm that Midna wore, only closer together- sprouted on top of it's neck as well.

The first shadow beast raised it's right hand high in a sort of salute to the other one, who was apparently of higher rank. The officer beast then raised it's right hand as well, yet not as high. Then, they both dropped their hands to the ground and hesitated for a moment. After a short pause, the officer beast gave a grunt and pointed to the castle. The other shadow beast then raised it's hand in acknowledgement and sauntered towards the castle.

Midna swooped down low to follow the shadow beast, but was grabbed by a huge, black hand.

"What the-?!" Midna yelled, desperately trying to get away. The beast clutched at her even harder, and in her panic Midna noticed that it was the officer beast. Beating her tiny imp fists against it's arm, she screamed and yelled and called for help, but none of the townspeople or shadow beasts heard her. The townspeople couldn't see or hear her, and the shadow beasts didn't care.

------------

"OW! Get off me!" screamed Dusk as she was thrown to the hard, red earth of what she assumed was Kakariko Village. Stella was perched awkwardly on top of her chest, and Nevera had landed a few feet away.

"SHH! I'm sorry! I'm getting off!" hissed Stella as she rolled off of the complaining Dusk. "You don't have to yell so loud, what if one of the light dwellers hears us?"

"Yeah, what would happen then? They don't even know what we are, for crying out loud!" Dusk said back, not caring to whisper.

"No! SHH! Seriously!" Nevera said, grabbing Dusk's shoulder. "There are some monsters over there, and I bet they can hear us loud and clear!"

Sure enough, when Dusk and Stella turned to where Nevera was pointing they saw a group of monsters. Some of the monsters were riding huge creatures that none of the twili girls recognized, and some seemed to be carrying floating balls of green fire. Nevera gave a gasp.

"Those are spirits!" she whispered to her friends.

"Those are what?" Dusk whispered back.

"Spirits! The spirits of the light dwellers that live here!" Nevera replied. "Since they cannot survive in this half-twilight, they've turned into spirits! See? If you focus really, really hard on them you can start to make out the outline of what they really look like."

Dusk tried with all her might to see the outlines of the spirits that were lying on the ground. There were three of them, and they were unusually small. Children, maybe...? Yes! That had to be it. Why were they out here? Why were the monsters just leaving them here? Why were they keeping one of them, that girl?

"We have to help them," Stella whispered. This was all her fault. She had to do something to make up for it!

They waited until the monsters had ridden away, then quickly ran over to where the three forgotten souls lay. They found out that all three of them were unconscious, making it much easier to carry them. Once they figured out who would carry who, they looked around them for the first time. They saw that they were in a great big field, with a huge gorge separating the east and west sides. On one side, there was a wooden archway that suggested that there was once a bridge there, but it looked like it had disappeared somehow. Looking to the wall that the trio was nearest, there was a huge, spiked gate that hung wide open.

"Maybe that leads to a town or something?" Dusk said, shifting the blonde-haired boy up higher on her back.

"Um, I don't know..." Nevera said, shifting the toddler that she was carrying in her arms.

"I say we go, I don't want to carry this kid any longer than I have to," Stella said. "He's heavy!"

"Okay, I'll lead the way, then!" Dusk proclaimed, stepping towards the gate.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Nevera focused on the little toddler's outline as she gently placed him beside his friends. She, Dusk, and Stella were standing outside of the first building that they had seen upon entering what they assumed was Kakariko Village, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Should we explore the village?" Dusk suggested, eager to continue their adventure.

"I think that's a good idea," Stella agreed, a little bit less enthusiastic.

"Okay, let's split up. This village can't be that big, and if you get into trouble just yell," Nevera said.

"I'll go to the northern part of the town," Dusk volunteered, turning and jogging in that direction.

"I'll see who's in this building and make sure they see the children," Nevera said, walking towards the door to the odd-looking building.

"Um, I'll... stay here and see who comes in, I guess..." Stella mumbled, not quite sure what else there was to do.

"Sure, if anything does happen, tell me. Dusk'll be too far away," Nevera replied, turning the door handle and entering the house.

When Nevera's eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she saw that there were three more spirits in there. One appeared to be a tall man, and he seemed somewhat respectable to Nevera. The one sitting next to him was another child, but Nevera couldn't tell if it was a girl or a boy. The last one was taking laps around the circular room, and from what Nevera could see he was a slightly plump looking man. She could only catch snippets of their conversation.

"Barnes! Did you close that door properly? I just saw it swing open!" said the first man.

"I swear, I did! Maybe you're just seeing things," the man called Barnes replied.

She could hear a faint reply come from the child, but the only information Nevera could gather from that was that the child was a girl.

_So, they obviously can't see me. I'm standing right in front of them, and that man saw the door swing open when I entered!_ Nevera thought. _Maybe I can use this to my advantage._

Slowly, she made the door creak open, then slam shut. Then she opened it again, only this time she let it go as far as its hinges would allow.

"Baaarns!" the man yelled again.

"I'm getting to it! Just a second!"

With this, Nevera moved out of the building a little bit, waiting.

"Hey, um, Renado? There's a group of children here, just passed out against the wall. Should we bring 'em in?"

_Mission accomplished_, Nevera thought with a smirk.

----------

Zelda was startled from her thoughts when suddenly her chamber door was blasted open. She whirled around to see what had opened the door, and was faced with a shadow beast. Zelda said nothing, wondering what the beast wanted with her. After a moment's hesitation, the beast threw in a strange looking creature and slammed the door behind him. The creature gave a groan.

Zelda, realizing that the creature was somewhat humanoid, immediately rushed to her side and kneeled.

"Are you all right? Who are you?" she said, gently prodding the imp with a gloved hand.

Midna rolled onto her back, her head slightly more elevated than it should have been because of her helmet. She opened her eyes with a moan, looking up to the cloaked and hooded figure before her.

"Umm, I'm Midna," she said. "And... I think I'm all right. Nothing's broken, anyway."

"Your name sounds familiar," Zelda replied, looking the imp over and noting the colors of her skin. "Are you... a twili?"

"Yes," Midna replied, getting up and floating to Zelda's eye level. Zelda stood up.

"Yes! I know now! You are the Princess of the Twilight, are you not?" Zelda said, shocked and excited at the same time.

"That's four questions you've asked me! YES, I am- uh, at least, I WAS the Twilight Princess," Midna replied. "I can pretty much guess who you are. You're Zelda, and you're the Princess of the Light? Hmm. It's weird, meeting my opposite."

"What do you mean, _was_ the Twilight Princess" Zelda said.

"You're pretty slow for a princess," Midna said. "Zant isn't the real King of the Twilight. I'll let you figure that out for yourself, right now I have a legendary hero to find."

"So- What?! Legendary hero?" Zelda replied, bewildered with all the information Midna had poured onto her. "What did he look like? Did he have green clothes?" Midna was already floating towards the heavy doors of Zelda's chamber.

"Dang, you ask too many questions," said Midna simply before she vanished behind the doors.

_Okay, if Zelda was kept there, they shouldn't be keeping wolf-boy too far away_, Midna thought, floating down the stairs of the tower. There were more doors at the bottom, but it was locked. Not like Midna was expecting to walk out that easily. She flew halfway back up the stairs and saw a window. Smirking, she bounced out of it, flying up onto the rooftops. She surveyed the scene, following where the rooftops lead. Shrugging to herself, she easily glided along and was led to another tower.

_This looks promising,_ Midna thought, dodging the twilit bats that swarmed around the tower. Silently, she opened the door at the base of the tower and slipped inside. The stink of the tower hit her full force, this was obviously where all the waste water went. Yep, this was the place.

As quickly as she could, Midna shot down the tower and through various passageways. At some points, though, she used the power of her helmet to go through some of the bars that blocked her way. Finally, she reached a room that looked like the inside of a cell. As quietly as possible, she pushed the cell door ajar and floated through. She could tell that there was something in the next cell over, and she decided to take a look.

There, chained to the middle of the floor, lay the wolf. He obviously hadn't awaken since he transformed, and Midna wondered briefly if he even knew he was a wolf yet. She used the fused shadow again to get though the bars of the cell and waited in the dark corner of the cell, waiting for him to wake up.

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A.N.: Sorry this took me so long to upload! I've actually had this written for a while, but haven't gotten the chance to actually put it up. (I also wanted to add a bit more to it, but this is all I can come up with for now. School is going to slow me down considerably, so I don't know when the next chapter will be up.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Link slowly came to conciousness, his head groggy and muffled. He raised his head from the floor, shaking it slightly to try to wake himself up and clear his head. He stood up, his eyes still closed. Chasing the last of the sleep from his system, he opened his eyes, but was shocked at what he saw. He was in a dungeon of some sort, chained to the floor by his... paw? Wait, he was a wolf!

Wolf Link gave a little whine in surprise. He was having a nightmare, that was it! That would explain the black squares and rectangles rising from the ground, too. Those weren't natural. He wasn't supposed to be a wolf!

_Snap out of it, Link!_ he scolded himself mentally. He had to wake up! He bolted for the wall, but was caught short by his chain and fell over himself. Pain shot through his muzzle as it scraped the rough stone floor. Okay, maybe he wasn't dreaming. But, dreaming or not, he wouldn't let himself rot in a cell. He needed to save Ilia, Collin, and the other village children! As a last resort, he grabbed the cold, damp chain in his teeth and began to try to break it.

Suddenly, something in the corner of his cell caught his eye. He dropped the chain with a clink and looked to what it was. He squinted his eyes a little, trying to focus on the creature standing there. The imp slowly came into focus, a mock sour expression plastered on her face. After a few seconds, as if she couldn't hold it any longer, her face bursted into an evil-looking smile that only imps can pull off.

_Why is she here? Is she some demon officer come to question or torture me? _Link thought. The imp abruptly flew into the air and vaulted over his head, making him back up onto his haunches in order to keep his eyes on her. She landed on the hard floor with little or no sound, still facing Link.

"I found you!" she giggled. Link was not impressed. He lowered the front half of his body and began to growl at her. He would keep up his guard no matter what. This imp could only mean trouble.

"Oooh! Aren't you scary!" the imp said, sounding like a child talking to a puppy. She crossed her arms and shook her head dissapprovingly at the snarling wolf.

"Eee hee!" she chuckled, "Are you sure you want to be doing that? Snarling and glaring at me?" Link only growled more.

_Yes, I'm pretty sure, thank you, _he thought.

"Well, that's too bad," she crooned, "I was planning on helping you... if you were nice."

_Wait, helping? Why didn't you say that sooner?_ Link thought, immediately standing up straight and falling silent.

"Eee hee! That's much better!" the imp said happily, "You humans are obedient to a fault, aren't you?" She took a step towards Link, but then paused.

"Oops! But you AREN'T a human anymore, are you?" she said, patting him roughly under the chin and rolling her eyes, "You're a beast! Eee hee!" Link snapped at her angrily. How did she know?! The imp easily dodged his attack and hopped towards the bars of the cell with another impish giggle.

"There, there," she said, using her child-to-puppy voice again, "You be a good boy and calm down. No need to bite!" With this, she outstretched her long arms at shoulder height, her expression that of consentration. She brought her hands together in front of her, one on top, one on bottom, and formed a little ball of black and red energy. After charging it for a few seconds, she let it loose, and in the blink of an eye Link's chain had broken and he was free. Well, as free as a wolf can be in a cell. His expression must have been that of shock, for the imp hopped over to him with a giggle and bent over to be at his eye level.

"You look kind of surprised! Eee hee!" she said. She hopped back towards the bars now, more floating than anything. She floated through the bars, partially encircled by a black fog.

"So!" she continued. "I bet you're wondering, where exactly are we?!" She gave a twirl in mid-air and landed on the other side of the bars. "Well, I'll make you a deal. If you can get over here, maybe I'll tell you! Eee hee!" She motioned with her hand for him to come, then stretched her arms up and gave a big yawn.

Link flattened his ears in annoyance for a second, but then began sniffing around the dungeon for a way out. Maybe the bars weren't really there, and that's how this annoying imp had gotten through? Anything seemed possible here, but when he tried this theory all he got was a headache from banging against the solid steel bars. The imp gave an irritating giggle at his misfortune. Then, he found a box in one of the corners of his cell. It looked like he could smash through it without much difficulty, so he broke it. The splinters of the box revealed a small hole in the bars! Link quickly dug under the bars, shaking off the dirt in his fur on the other side.

Once he was done shaking, he looked around the hallway that he was now in. Where had that imp gone to? She was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Link felt a heavy weight pound onto the middle of his back, making his head jerk up instinctively. What the heck was that?! He looked to what had dropped onto him, and there was the imp with a smug smile on her face. He didn't like this picture, not at all! He wouldn't be treated like a beast, even though he was one now. He was a hylian! Enraged, he started trying to bite the imp's stubby leg and ran around in circles in an attempt to get her off. Finally, it was too much and he was forced to the ground.

"Hmph!" the imp sighed, unfazed by his rodeo. "I guess you're not completely stupid after all!" She gave his neck a pat, then slumped her weight forward onto her elbow, making Link unsteady for a second.

"Listen. I like you, so I think I'll get you out of here," she continued. She grabbed Links ear and brought it back to make sure he was listening. "But in exchange for my help, you need to do EXACTLY as I say!" She let his sore ear go now. "If you need anything from me, just give me a sign. So, are we all clear? Good. Now, come on! Get moving!" With this, she gave Link a harsh kick in the ribs, making him jerk up in suprise and pain.

The pair navigated through the sewers, passing the spirits of soldiers, swimming through the disgusting water, pulling levers, and finally ending up on the rooftops of what looked to be a ginormous castle. Recognition sparked in Link's head now, remembering something about Rusl, the village's swordsman, telling him about Hyrule Castle. Was this it? Were they even in the same world as his safe Ordon Village? Hopefully this imp would keep her promise and tell him soon.

Link fought his way over the stormy rooftops, past huge, black, flying monsters, until he reached a tower.

_The princess is kept in the tallest tower, _Link thought sarcastically. Who knew if that was true in this world? He climbed into the window none-the-less, and dropped onto the spiral staircase leading up to heavy double-doors. One was slightly ajar, so he pushed it open with his snout and stepped inside.

Standing near the ornate window was a fully hooded and cloaked figure. Link started to growl, wondering if this had been a trap. Was this the leader of this dark world? Did he or she know where he came from, too? Had this person sent this annoying imp to fetch him for their pleasure?

At the sound of Link's growling, the figure turned around. Link was expecting cruel eyes to be turned towards him, but instead his gaze was met by soft kind ones. Link stopped growling and perked up his ears, taking a few more steps forward. The imp rolled her eyes.

"Midna?" the figure said uncertainly. Link turned to the passenger on his back.

"Eee hee! You remembered my name?" the imp, supposedly called Midna, replied sardonically. "What an honor for me." Link turned away from the sarcastic imp and looked up to the person in front of him.

"So, this is the one for whom you were searching," she said, her vocabulary and tone unmistakably royal.

"He's not exactly what I had in mind, but... I guess he'll do," Midna replied, pretending to decide if Link was worth it or not. The person in front of him kneeled down to look Link in the eyes. Her gaze wondered to the cuff on his paw.

"You were imprisoned?" she said, her words heavy with sorrow. She paused, turning to look at the cold floor before saying, "I am sorry."

"Poor thing," Midna said, gesturing to Link, "he has no idea where this is or what's happened." She paused and put a hand on her hip. "So, don't you think you should explain what you've managed to do? You owe him that much..." Link thought that Midna was making this poor lady feel more guilty than she already did. He was still curious, though, about what the imp was talking about.

"... Twilight Princess! Eee hee!" Midna continued, giggling cruely. Sad eyes looked up from the floor and to Midna's harsh gaze, then down again. Regaining her composure, she looked to Link.

"Listen carefully..." she said to him. "This was once the land where the power of the gods was said to slumber. This was once the kingdom of Hyrule, but that blessed kingdom has been transformed by the king that rules the twilight.

"It has been turned into a world of shadows, ruled by creatures who shun the light..." She then proceeded to tell the pair of the short yet fateful battle between the shadow beasts and the King of Twilight, Zant. She told them of the partial burning of Hyrule Castle, of how the people of Castle Town slowly lost hope for their kingdom.

"Twilight covered Hyrule like a shroud," she continued, "and without light, the people became as spirits. Within the twilight, they live on, unaware that they have passed into spirit forms... All the people know is fear... Fear of a nameless evil..." She stood up and turned towards the window, hiding her grief. She took a deep breath and turned back to them.

"The kingdom succumbed to twilight," she said, "but I remain its princess..." With this, she reached her gloved hands to her hood and threw it back, revealing her brunette hair, her golden crown, and her pointed ears. Midna leaned back and gasped with mock suprise.

"I am Zelda," the princess said, her tone flat.

"You don't have to look so sad!" Midna said, a bit of real pity creeping into her voice. She stretched out her arms and put them behind her head. "We find it to be quite livable! I mean, is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"

"Midna," Zelda said, "This is no time for levity. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you... Why is this?"

Midna pushed off of Link's back, floating cross-legged in the air, her back to Zelda.

"Why indeed? You tell me!" Mida replied, a forced giggle escaping her lips. Zelda looked down from Midna to Link.

"Time has grown short," she said hurriedly, "The guard will soon make his rounds." Midna dropped onto Link's back, causing pain to shoot through his spine again. He could really do without that.

"You must leave here, quickly!" Zelda continued. Link gave a nod, then wheeled around and bolted out the door. Halfway down the stairs, Midna reached out for his ear and jerked it up painfully, making him slide to a stop just as the door on the bottom of the stairs bursted open.

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A.N.: Dun dun DUUNNN! Haha, I know. Sorry about the lack of the other twili being in this chapter, I have to get the timeline flowing right. Next chapter, I swear!


End file.
